


shelter

by Somnifery (somnifery)



Category: Destiny (Video Games)
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-03-15
Updated: 2019-03-15
Packaged: 2019-11-18 12:30:25
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 939
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18120758
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/somnifery/pseuds/Somnifery
Summary: A small vignette about Tamzin and Kedric from the quieter future of Alcione."We aren't Guardians anymore, but that doesn't mean we can't do the right thing."





	shelter

The chattering the child had thought were still the sounds of the camp are overtaken by what sounds like a rush of wind.

Then, only the sounds of the forest.

Yin stands in that silence, in the middle of the woods, white flowers clutched in her small fist. For the first time since she stepped beyond the treeline, she feels fear.

“Mama?” She called, soft, scared. A pause. A rustle of leaves. _Monsters?_

Yin turns, runs, plowing right into a pair of black-clad legs.  

She looks up, ready to scream, but then she sees it’s another Human-- A woman. The child wipes her nose on the back of her hand, staring up at the stranger. A small orb is floating down to her, inspecting her. It says something she doesn’t understand.

“Hello,” Yin says. “Are you from another caravan?”

She is awed at the sight of this strange lady, this person she’s never seen before. She knows she ought to run back to her parents, back to the camp, because strangers are dangerous, but this woman doesn’t seem so scary.

“... Hi.” The lady hesitates, then pulls off her helmet, letting it vanish in a haze of light before crouching down to get on her level. “What are you doing out here by yourself, kid?”

The woman speaks slowly, much slower than the adults at the camp, testing each tone of the language like a step that might break.

“It’s dangerous by yourself.”

“I was looking for flowers for Mama,” she explains, distracted. The lady’s eyes are light like the sky, her hair a shade of red Yin has only seen on autumn leaves and sunsets. “Are you a Guardian?”

Yin reaches out and touches the lady’s hair, marveling at the fire red strands between her pudgy fingers. The lady seems startled, but then she smiles, gently taking her hand in her own, moving it away from her face.

“I’m Tamzin,” the lady says. “What’s your name?”

“Yin.” The girl replies.

“Like the metal?” Yin shakes her head vigorously. “Or the sound?”

The lady lets Yin take her hand, flatten her palm out, and trace the lines of her name out onto her glove. Tamzin watches the baby fingers, expression shifting to a little grin as she recognizes the character.

“Shelter.”

“Uh-huh. Like the City.” Yin is smiling, showing the gaps where her baby teeth have started falling out. “Mama says it’s safe there. No more loud nights or hiding.”

The lady looks sad, for a moment. She’s still staring at her hand, as if the lines Yin traced there are something she can see.

“It is. But you have a very long way to go, little one.”

The sound of a breaking branch makes Yin jump, cry out, but Tamzin shushes her, putting a hand on top of her head to reassure her.

“It’s okay,” she says. “It’s just my friend.”

Her friend is big, and his face is blue. Yin gawps at him, not even putting up a fuss as he lifts her up, setting her against his hip as easily as her father does.

“Hello,” he says. He speaks a language she recognizes but doesn’t understand, though his tone makes his intentions clear. “Aren’t you precious?”

“ _Nin hao_ ,” she replies. He repeats the greeting, tone deaf as can be, and she giggles.

“Where’s her people?” Kedric asks, looking around, as if he may be able to sight them among the dense trees. He bounces Yin on his hip, though he frees one hand to help Tamzin to her feet, smile still on his face to keep the child at ease.

“Can’t be far,” Tamzin sighs. She glances toward the Fallen he’s killed, glad the dense bushes hide the corpses from the child’s sight. “They’re trying to reach the City.”

“From here?” Kedric looks surprised, then slightly sad. “Where do they think they’ll get a boat?”

Tamzin avoids his gaze, staring off into the forest, discomfited.

“They won’t.”

Kedric lets the silence hang for a moment, then seems to remember the girl in his arms, turning to tap her gently on the nose with one finger.

“Where’s your family?” He asks, tone bright. “Can you show us?”

Tamzin translates, forcing a smile for the child’s benefit, casually checking her guns as the girl points back through the trees.

“We can’t help them,” she says to Kedric, keeping her tone soft. “It’s probably a large group.”

“Well, what else can we do?” He raises his brows at her, a pointed look. “We’ll take her back, at least.”

“We’re not Guardians anymore,” she reminds him. “We don’t do this.”

“Oh. Well, in that case--” Kedric turns back to the little girl in his arms, smiling at her. “Time to go, sweetheart. If you run fast enough, I’m sure none of those scary monsters will catch you.”

Yin doesn’t understand a word, thankfully, and Tamzin’s irritated slap to Kedric’s arm just makes the child giggle.

“That’s not what I meant, and you know it!” She hisses. “We’ll take her back to her family, of course, I just meant after that--”

“Tamzin.”

He says her name the way he does when he’s trying to soothe her, when he’s trying to talk her down. It makes her falter, makes her take a slow, deep breath.

“What?”

“We’re not Guardians anymore,” he says, gently. “But that doesn’t mean we can’t do the right thing.”

She bites her lip. She looks away.

“We’ll call the Tower,” she says. “We’ll get a transport for them. One way or another.”

Kedric smiles, leaning over to brush a kiss across her temple.

“Whatever you think is best, darling.”


End file.
